A low computational complexity V-BLAST/STBC detection mechanism in MIMO system

The idea of multiple antenna arrays has evolved into multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system, which provides transmit and receive diversities. It increases robustness of the effect of multipath fading in wireless channels, besides yielding higher capacity, spectral efficiency and better bit error rate (BER) performance. The spatial diversity gain is obtained by transmitting or receiving multiple copies of a signal through different antennas to combat fading and improves the system BER performance. However, the computational complexity of MIMO system is inevitably increased. Space-time coding (STC) technique such as Alamouti's space-time block code (STBC) that combines coding, modulation and signal processing has been used to achieve spatial diversity. Vertical Bell Laboratories Layered Space-Time (V-BLAST) uses antenna arrays at both the transmitter and receiver to achieve spatial multiplexing gain. Independent data streams that share both frequency bands and time slots are transmitted from multiple antennas and jointly detected at the receiver. The theoretical capacity of V-BLAST increases linearly with the number of antennas in rich scattering environments. It's well-known that maximization of spatial diversity gain leads to degradation of spatial multiplexing gain or vice versa. In order to achieve spatial multiplexing and diversity gains simultaneously, the V-BLAST/STBC scheme has been introduced. This hybrid scheme increases MIMO system capacity and maintains reliable BER performance at the same time. However, both V-BLAST and STBC layers, in this hybid scheme, assume each other as an interferer. Thus, the symbols must be decoded with a suitable detection mechanism. In this paper, a new low complexity detection mechanism for V-BLAST/STBC scheme based on QR decomposition, denoted as low complexity QR (LC-QR) decomposition, is presented. The performance of the proposed LC-QR decomposition detection mechanism in V-BLAST/STBC transceiver scheme is compared with other detection mechanisms such as ZF, MMSE and QR decomposition. It is shown that the BER performance in V-BLAST/STBC scheme is better than V-BLAST scheme while its system capacity is higher than orthogonal STBC scheme when the LC-QR decomposition detection mechanism is exploited. Moreover, the computational complexity of proposed LC-QR decomposition mechanism is significantly lower than other abovementioned detection mechanisms.